Pep Guardiola turned down a move toReal Madrid in favour of switching to the Premier League with Manchester City earlier this year, according tofriend and biographer Marti Perarnau.
Real president Florentino Perez made an approach to sign the former Barcelona manager at the back end of last year, when he was still manager at Bayern Munich.
It was widely known that Guardiola would be leaving his post in Germany at the end of last season, and Perez made contact with Guardiola's representatives before taking the decision to sackRafa Benitez back in January. However,Perarnau confirmed that the attempts to pull off one of the most shocking deals in modern football didn't get off the ground.
Guardiola, according to Perarnau, was Real's first choice to succeed Benitez, and even featured ahead of current boss Zinedine Zidane on their priority list.
He toldCadena Ser:"Real Madrid called Pep Guardiola to try and tempt him last November, before they sacked Benitez.
"Madrid contacted [Josep Maria] Orobitg, Guardiola's agent, in order to try and contract him. But from the start it was out of the question. I was there."
Guardiola, who managed Barcelona from 2008 until 2012 - winning every trophy there was to win - had his heart set on a Premier League move at the time, and his move to Manchester City was confirmed back in February. He completed the move following the expiration of his contract at Bayern.
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